Reading again MN 77, the Mahasakuludayi Sutta, I was struck by the huge array of kasina practices.
Does the provenance of MN 77 and its parallels in the Agamas, indicate to you that this is an early text? I just don’t recall seeing so many highly elaborated kasina practices anywhere else. This, plus the catalogue nature of the sutta in general, raises doubts in me. But I refer to your scholastic background, not to my personal reactions.
Thank you for the reference to the other thread. I’d read that and while MN 77 is mentioned once, not much is said about it. I’m still with this question about the elaboration of kasina practice being a later addition.